


02

by n_04



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, How Do I Tag, M/M, again title doesn't match the content, takuto only appears for like 1 or 2 lines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 12:31:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16450031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n_04/pseuds/n_04
Summary: “You should be happy. You have attained the power you had been longing for.” It was what Takuto said.But at what cost, really? To lose the person that made him feel like a whole. A person that made him live as himself and no other. To lose something that not even God could return nor achieve._____Alternate ending for Link Joker-Hen.





	02

**Author's Note:**

> Not Beta-ed, and again, this is reposted from my tumblr. An Alternate Ending for Link Joker-Hen whereas Kai didn't listen to Aichi's plead and make it through his last fight against Aichi and conquers the world.

The sixth damage was dealt and landed smoothly. Everything was within his prediction – the triggers, how will his opponent guard, which unit should he use first. Everything.

What once exciting becomes a bore, and eventually meaningless.

“As expected of you, Kai Toshiki. And congratulation for your dream is now fulfilled!”

Disgusting. What a distaste. What a disgrace. Shut up.

“Enjoy it, the suffering of being the most powerful being in the entire universe!”

Yet nothing comes out of his mouth – per usual. The silence was enough and always enough to shows his discomfort. Despite his stoic facade, he was never been the best when it comes to concealing his emotion, after all.

“Don’t forget, you brought this upon and onto yourself.”

Tatsunagi Takuto’s figure dissolved into a dust of black and red, dancing in the air before it turns to nothingness. Not a trace of what once was him. There’s no legacy, all that is left is… Nothing. As everything should be; Void.

He, who brought the world to its knees stood on top of Tatsunagi Building. The very place where everything began and ended. The flame of apocalypse had devoured everything to nothingness, ironically it was never been his flame.

What a fake.

Lifeless teal irises gazed to the blackened sky and beyond. Ah, today too, the sun has completely disappeared, the storm never subsided, and units of white and black never stopped moving even just once. The grim reaper never stops absorbing every single life on earth, everything but him.

Ah, perhaps that is the punishment of accepting this power; Link Joker. The power to trample the world only to conquer his irrational fear of being left behind. Yes, before he is completely left in the dust, he should overcome and throw them away. Yes.

The people he loves-loved the most.

Standing on top of the food chain, there’s nothing left to do. Everything drained him way too much, life force, mental energy, everything. Every single piece of him. There’s nothing to do, right? Nothing? What’s the point of staying awake if that is the case?

——————————————–

Is it so wrong to want to be alone?  
Is it so wrong to brush everyone away?  
Is it so wrong to live this way?  
To be capable, already cost you something, after all.

“Ah…”

All he saw was an endless darkness before a light made its way through, blinding his sight for a split of second before everything becomes clear. As clear as the days he spent before accepting the power of Link Joker.

The days he oh so would sacrifice everything and anything to protect. Only to lose it the moment he raised his hand to touch it.

He blinked, once, twice. Reassuring himself that what he saw was real, real enough to left him in a daze. Yet expression remains the same, unchanged, stoic. Suddenly everything shifted, and the inside of his stomach felt like flipped inside out. All he knew, he’s now in a space-like barrier. He tried to raise his hand but he can’t. The moment he realized it, he’s aware enough that he is reduced to a mere consciousness. Confusion and hundred of questions are ready to invade him all at once but a familiar voice caught his attention in an instant. The next thing he could see was… him, in his high school uniform fighting against Aichi in a black military uniform.

[“There are things that can’t be solved by counting on other people alone!”]

[“You showed me the way, and now it’s my turn to return the favor!!”]

“What is this… a dream?” Yet it didn’t feel like a dream, he knew very well what he sees right about now is a reality. “But why…?”

The fight continues, he could tell what ‘he’ is going to do so does 'Aichi’. He could see the result of the match, but he didn’t expect what comes after – when Blaster Blade slashed the seed into pieces and ended the ordeal he thought unfinishable but becoming a tyrant who shoulders the whole universe’s sin.

The barrier collapsed, and everyone was transported back to earth – him, as a consciousness included. Even though it is against his will.

——–

Is it possible for me to live that way?  
Is it possible for me to become a person like that?  
Is it possible for me to change?  
If such a possibility exists then…

Again, everything shifts in a speed of light it made him want to vomit – should he has the physical body. Alas, he is aware enough that nausea came due to other reason and not something physical. Something inside him flipping, twisting, it felt like every fiber of his being is tied into undoable knots and there’s nothing he could do to stop it.

Even though he’s the most powerful being. Even though he had transcends everything and becomes something equals to a God itself.

And yet…

Pathetic, isn’t it?

[“Picture it!! You are not alone!!”]

“Aichi…”

Suddenly they returned to the top of Tatsunagi Building, returned to that fateful day where he took Aichi’s life with little to no remorse and thought. To [him] being the strongest is the only thing that matters. He lived for that one moment and that moment alone. And yet…

The red sign under his-counterpart-eyes slowly disappears as he accepted his lost. But Kai knew better, it was not only a “lost” it is something more than that. The culmination of two destined fighters’ feeling. Forgiveness and acceptance, the end and a new beginning. Rebirth and destruction as how most things should be.

But this version of Kai didn’t let himself killed to be resurrected. Unlike the one he saw with his very own 'eyes’.

'you are not alone’

Ah, the words he had been longing to hear… how ironic that he finally could taste what it feels like not being alone… but at the same time he knew, he didn’t deserve it. He never deserved it. Besides, Aichi said that to the alternate version of him, and not the [present him]. Those words were meant to salvage the Kai Toshiki who still could be saved, not the one who had gone past the line of redemption.

The image radiating happiness and sun, the reality of Aichi grabbing his hand and drag him to a better future starts to fade. Replaced by darkness and field of red spider lilies. He stood there – regaining his physical (astral) body. He thought that was the end. He thought to see the sunlight falling through three crowns, seeing the person who gave him the happy smile and courage to live on yet unable to be grasped forever was the end of his nightmare. But it was only the beginning. What once warmth he felt when he watched what was going on in the alternate universe grew into the flame of purgatory that burns him whole. Similar to a wasp’s stung, at first you felt nothing but suddenly the wound is swollen and eventually it is terrible enough to be fixed.

It burns. It’s hot. And the process was really slow – he could tell it rhymes with the Higanbana’s blooming momentum. This is his punishment. What’s the use of the power he had attained if he could do nothing against this pain? He said it long ago, that he wouldn’t regret his choice and yet–

“You should be happy. You have attained the power you had been longing for.” It was what Takuto said.

But at what cost, really? To lose the person that made him feel like a whole. A person that made him live as himself and no other. To lose something that not even God could return or achieve.

Suddenly it felt like he returned to the moment when he was informed that his parents passed away. Detached, lost, confused, frustrated, and the most important is… lonely. He never admitted it, how lonely he is, how much he needs other people to survive, how much he needs something to depend on, how much he needs–

“Kai-kun.”

He snapped from the train of thoughts and for a moment, the second he heard his voice the pain is being washed away. Once he gained touch with what felt like reality, he found himself crouching on the floor, trying so hard not to vomit. Trying so hard to endure the punishment he brought to himself. Trying so hard to swallow the guilt and be responsible and behave like an adult, for once. Trying to accept the reality he brought onto himself.

“Kai-kun.”

Again, he tried to suppress the desire to lift up his face. He as no right to see him, after all. The person he once brushed off and then chase like a lost puppy. He doesn’t have any single right to see Aichi again. It felt like if he moves or breathes, he would never hear Aichi’s voice again. Worst case, the voices were just his imagination all along.

But it wasn’t, when Aichi’s palm is placed on his cheek, when he pulled him into an embrace. He knew this is not a mere imagination, this is something real.

“Please don’t put yourself under a curse too much. I want you to live with no regrets. I forgive you.”

“Aichi!!”

———

Arms flail mid-air, grasping nothingness as teal-hued irises shot open. He preserved his position for a good five minutes before slowly digesting what had been going on. He could feel his cheeks are damp due to uncontrollable tears and burst of emotion.

“Aa…” Jealously, rage, regret, anguish, malice, all mixed into one. But there’s nothing he can do. After all, even with Link Joker full power to alternate the reality, what had happened can’t be reversed. Once again, the Overlord returns to his slumber, only in the same painful dream over and over again, he could ease the pain that washes over him once he’s awake.

And only in the dream, he could meet his soulmate again, even though that too is only a projection of his loneliness and ego.

But of course, forever is a price he has to pay…


End file.
